IU Health Infectious Disease Expert: For Social Distancing To Work, Everyone Has To Do It

By
Bente Bouthier

Posted March 27, 2020

The number of Indiana confirmed COVID-19 cases has jumped from 259 Monday to 981 Friday. That’s from the state health department.

Dr. Tom Hrisomalos is an infectious disease expert at IU Health. He says a majority of these cases are in Marion County, but this has more to do with testing availability than where the disease is concentrated.

Because testing hasn’t been available to the general public and symptoms of COVID-19 are so generic, Hrisomalos says it’s critical that everyone follow Governor Eric Holcomb’s Stay-At-Home order.

“The social distancing and the Stay-At-Home orders, they work only if everyone is doing it. Id you have half the population not doing it, it’s not going to be effective," he says.

He says data shows that 80 percent of the population needs to follow the orders for them to be effective in slowing the spread of infection.

He also says at this point, it looks like a majority of viral transmission occurs through respiatory droplets, which do not hang in the air very long.

The virus can be spread through surafce contact too, which is why it's important to wash your hands and sanitize, he says.